An Algebraic Analysis of Normative Systems

In the present paper we study how subsystems of a normative system can be combined, and the role of such combinations for the understanding of hypothetical legal consequences. A combination of two subsystems is often accomplished by a normative correlation or an intermediate concept. To obtain a detailed analysis of such phenomena we use an algebraic framework. Normative systems are represented as algebraic structures over sets of conditions. This representation makes it possible to study normative systems using an extension of the theory of Boolean algebras, called the theory of Boolean quasi-orderings.     

What Secular Age?

After asserting that the title of Charles Taylor’s book A Secular Age is misleading—since around the world religious communities of belief are still quite robust—this paper argues that the most important tension in contemporary societies, is not, as Taylor thinks, that between believers and so-called unbelievers, but rather that between monists and pluralists, between advocates of closed communities and advocates of open communities, be they religious or secular.     

The Investment-Promotion Machines: The Politics of Foreign Direct Investment Promotion in Central and Eastern Europe

A variety of foreign-led economies emerged in Central and Eastern Europe in the late 1990s. State economic strategies in the Visegrad Four region (V4) of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia and Poland have converged towards a distinct model of competition states. This article investigates the politics of investment attraction and promotion of particular investors within the states and regions in Central and Eastern Europe. It analyses coalitions of social actors which form in the process of bidding for investors and promoting them in the regions. These coalitions, the investment-promotion machines, can be understood as power blocs underpinning the competition state at the regional level. The analysis draws primarily on case studies of attraction and promotion of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the Czech Republic and Slovakia.     

Preferences,beliefs, and values in negotiations concerning aid to Nicaragua

The paper argues that in the context of public choice for non-market goods, two assumptions of the simple model of the rational economic actor may not hold. The assumptions are that there is a direct connection between choice and outcome, and that preferences are not affected by the act of making a choice. Consequently, to understand people's preferences for public goods, it is important to measure their beliefs and values separately rather than simply to observe their choice behavior or to ask them what they would be willing to pay for the public good. In an example study, people's preferences for U.S. policies toward Nicaragua were measured and further analyzed into their beliefs about the effects of those policies on Nicaraguan outcomes, and their evaluations of the Nicaraguan outcomes. It was shown that the process of making a two-person choice changed the preferences, and that the separate measures or beliefs and values gave insight into the process of the change that would not have been available had only the preferences been measured. Implications for the contingent valuation method are explored and an alternative approach is proposed.